WAR MADE EASY: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us To Death - Narrated by Sean Penn – By The Media Education Foundation: www.mediaed.org - Based on Book by Norman Solomon titled: WAR MADE EASY – www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/war-made-easy - www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9DjSg6l9Vs - www.warmadeeasythemovie.org War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception & media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. This film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion & exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations. War Made Easy gives special attention to parallels between the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. Guided by media critic Norman Solomon’s meticulous research and tough-minded analysis, the film presents disturbing examples of propaganda and media complicity from the present alongside rare footage of political leaders and leading journalists from the past, including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, dissident Senator Wayne Morse and news correspondents Walter Cronkite and Morley Safer.

Bill Moyer’s The Secret Government: The Constitution In Crisis – PBS - 1987 This is the full length 90 minute version of Bill Moyer's 1987 scathing critique of the criminal subterfuge carried out by the Executive Branch of the United States Government to carry out operations which are clearly contrary to the wishes and values of the American people. The ability to exercise this power with impunity is facilitated by the National Security Act of 1947. The thrust of the exposé is the Iran-Contra arms and drug-running operations which flooded the streets of our nation with crack cocaine. - www.youtube.com/watch?v=28K2CO-khdY - www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-secret-government - www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJldun440Sk

The Panama Deception – Won Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1992 - Narrated by Elizabeth Montgomery – Directed by Barbara Trent - Produced by The Empowerment Project This Academy Award Winning film documents the untold story of the December 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama; the events which led to it; the excessive force used; the enormity of the death and destruction; and the devastating aftermath. The Panama Deception uncovers the real reasons for this internationally condemned attack, presenting a view of the invasion which widely differs from that portrayed by the U.S. media and exposes how the U.S. government and the mainstream media suppressed information about this foreign policy disaster. - www.documentarystorm.com/the-panama-deception - www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-p4cPoVcIowww.empowermentproject.org/films.html

Hearts and Minds - Academy Award Winning Documentary about The Vietnam War - Directed by Peter Davis – 1975 - www.criterion.com/films/711-hearts-and-minds This film recounts the history and attitudes of the opposing sides of the Vietnam War using archival news footage as well as its own film and interviews. A key theme is how attitudes of American racism and self-righteous militarism helped create and prolong this bloody conflict. The film also endeavors to give voice to the Vietnamese people themselves as to how the war has affected them and their reasons why they fight the United States and other western powers while showing the basic humanity of the people that US propaganda tried to dismiss. - www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/hearts-and-minds - www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d2ml82lc7s - www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC-PXLS4BQ4

Paying The Price: Killing The Children of Iraq by John Pilger – 2000 - www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/pay.html - In this hard-hitting special report, award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger investigates the effects of sanctions on the people of Iraq and finds that ten years of extraordinary isolation, imposed by the UN and enforced by the US and Britain, have killed more people than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan. The UN Security Council imposed the sanctions and demanded the destruction of Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapons under the supervision of a UN Special Commission (UNSCOM). Iraq is permitted to sell a limited amount of oil in exchange for some food and medicine. - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHn3kKySuVo - www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/paying-the-price - www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OLPWlMmV7s

Hijacking Catastrophe: 911, Fear & The Selling of the American Empire - Narrated by Julian Bond - The Media Education Foundation – 2004 - www.mediaed.org The 9/11 terror attacks continue to send shock waves through the American political system. Continuing fears about American vulnerability alternate with images of American military prowess and patriotic bravado in a transformed media landscape charged with emotion and starved for information. The result is that we have had little detailed debate about the radical turn US policy has taken since 9/11. Hijacking Catastrophe places the Bush Administration's original justifications for war in Iraq within the larger context of a two-decade struggle by neo-conservatives to dramatically increase military spending while projecting American power and influence globally by means of force. www.hijackingcatastrophe.org – www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/hijacking-catastrophe - www.vimeo.com/14429811 Cover-Up: Behind The Iran-Contra Affair - Narrated by Elizabeth Montgomery – Directed by Barbara Trent - Produced by The Empowerment Project - 1988 COVER-UP is the only film which presents a comprehensive overview of the most important stories suppressed during the Iran Contra hearings. It is the only film that puts the entire Iran Contra affair into a meaningful political and historical context. The shadow government of assassins, arms dealers, drug smugglers, former CIA operatives and top US military personnel who were running foreign policy unaccountable to the public, revealing the Reagan/Bush administration's plan to use FEMA to institute martial law and ultimately suspend the Constitution. Strikingly relevant to current events. - www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXZRRRU2VRI - www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOlMo9dAATwwww.empowermentproject.org/films.html

Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority – Directed By Sufyan & Abdallah Omeish -2006 - Best Film I’ve Seen about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict -- 'Occupation 101' presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions. The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets. - www.occupation101.com - www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuI5GP2LJAs - www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ycqATLDRow - www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwpvI8rX72o

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: US Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - The Media Education Foundation - www.mediaed.org Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported. - www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=117 - www.vimeo.com/14309419 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAN5GjJKAac

“What I’ve Learned About US Foreign Policy: The War Against The Third World" – by Frank Dorrel – 2000 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8POmJ46jqk - www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSmBhj8tmoU This is a 2-hour video compilation featuring the following 10 segments: 1. Martin Luther King Jr., Civil rights leader speaking out against the U.S. war in Vietnam. 2. John Stockwell, CIA Station Chief in Angola -1975, under CIA Director, George Bush Sr. 3. Coverup: Behind the Iran-Contra Affair U.S. support of the Contras in Nicaragua. 4. School of Assassins, Our own terrorist training school at Fort Benning, Georgia. 5. Genocide by Sanctions, 5,000 Iraqi children die every month due to the U.S. sanctions. 6. Philip Agee, Former CIA official who spent 13 years in the agency, wrote CIA Diary 7. Amy Goodman, Host of Democracy Now, Pacifica Radio NY, on the CIA and East Timor. 8. The Panama Deception Academy award for best documentary on U.S. invasion of Panama 9. Ramsey Clark, Former Attorney General, talking on U.S. militarism and foreign policy. 10. S. Brian Willson, Vietnam Veteran -Wages Unconditional Peace against U.S. imperialism www.addictedtowar.com/dorrel.html

"UNMANNED: AMERICA'S DRONE WARS" – Directed by Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films - www.bravenewfilms.org – 2013 - The eighth full-length feature documentary from Brave New Foundation and director Robert Greenwald, investigates the impact of U.S. drone strikes at home and abroad through more than 70 separate interviews, including a former American drone operator who shares what he has witnessed in his own words, Pakistani families mourning loved ones and seeking legal redress, investigative journalists pursuing the truth, and top military officials warning against blowback from the loss of innocent life. - www.knowdrones.com/2013/10/two-essential-films.html

Collateral Murder In Iraq - Bradley Manning Sent this Video to Wikileaks - www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0 - www.collateralmurder.com - www.bradleymanning.org Wikileaks obtained this video from Bradley Manning and decrypted this previously unreleased video footage from a US Apache helicopter in 2007. It shows Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, driver Saeed Chmagh, and several others as the Apache shoots and kills them in a public square in Eastern Baghdad. They are apparently assumed to be insurgents. After the initial shooting, an unarmed group of adults and children in a minivan arrives on the scene and attempts to transport the wounded. They are fired upon as well. The official statement on this incident initially listed all adults as insurgents and claimed the US military did not know how the deaths occurred. Wikileaks released this video with transcripts and a package of supporting documents on April 5th 2010.

Breaking The Silence: Truth and Lies in The War On Terror - A Special Report by John Pilger – 2003 - www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/break.html The documentary investigates George W Bush's "war on terror". In "liberated" Afghanistan, America has its military base & pipeline access, while the people have the warlords who are, says one women, "in many ways worse than the Taliban". In Washington, a series of remarkable interviews includes senior Bush officials & former intelligence officers. A former senior CIA official tells Pilger that the whole issue of weapons of mass destruction was "95 per cent charade". www.youtube.com/watch?v=phehfVeJ-wk - www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/breaking-the-silence - www.johnpilger.com

The War On Democracy - by John Pilger - 2007 - www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/wdem.html - www.johnpilger.com This film shows how US intervention, overt and covert, has toppled a series of legitimate governments in the Latin American region since the 1950s. The democratically elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende, for example, was ousted by a US backed coup in 1973 and replaced by the military dictatorship of General Pinochet. Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador have all been invaded by the United States. Pilger interviews several ex-CIA agents who took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries in the region. He investigates the School of the Americas in the US state of Georgia, where Pinochet’s torture squads were trained along with tyrants and death squad leaders in Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil and Argentina. The film unearths the real story behind the attempted overthrow of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez in 2002 and how the people of the barrios of Caracas rose up to force his return to power. www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-war-on-democracy - www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeHzc1h8k7o - www.johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy

The Oil Factor: Behind The War On Terror - By Gerard Ungerman & Audrey Brohy of Free-Will Productions – Narrated by Ed Asner - www.freewillprod.com Today, 6.5 billion humans depend entirely on oil for food, energy, plastics & chemicals. Population growth is on a collision course with the inevitable decline in oil production. George Bush's "war on terror" happens where 3/4 of the world's remaining oil and natural gas is located. - www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGakDrosLuA

Plan Colombia: Cashing-In On The Drug War Failure - By Gerard Ungerman & Audrey Brohy of Free-Will Productions – Narrated by Ed Asner - www.freewillprod.com 20 years of US war-on-drugs in Colombia paid for by U.S. tax-payers. Still, more and more drugs and narco-dollars are entering the US every year. Is it a failure or a smokescreen by Washington to secure Colombia's oil & natural resources instead? Now that the U.S. State Department officially shifted its priority in Colombia from counter-narcotics to counter-insurgency conveniently dubbed anti-terrorism, what is left today of the alleged anti-drug purpose of the U.S. "Plan Colombia"? While cocaine trafficking and money-laundering are skyrocketing to unseen proportions, is the current U.S. oil administration even concerned with fighting drugs in Colombia, another top oil supplier to the U.S., when its U.S.-friendly regime is being threatened by powerful leftist guerrilla groups? - www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EE8scPbxAI - www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/plan-colombia

NO MORE VICTIMS – Videos of 4 War-Injured Iraqi Children NMV Brought to the US for Medical Treatments: www.nomorevictims.org What American Missiles Did to 9-Year Old Salee Allawi in Iraq - www.nomorevictims.org/?page_id=95 In this video, Salee Allawi & her father tell the harrowing story of the American air strike that blew off her legs while she was playing outside her home in Iraq. Her brother & best friend were killed.

Nora, A 5-Year Old Iraqi Girl: Who Was Shot in the Head by a US Sniper - www.nomorevictims.org/children-2/noora - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft49-zlQ1V4 As her father writes, “On October 23, 2006 at 4:00 in the afternoon, American snipers positioned on a rooftop in my neighborhood started firing toward my car. My daughter Nora, a five-year-old child, was hit in the head. Since 2003 No More Victims has secured treatment for children injured by US forces.

Abdul Hakeem’s Story – Narrated by Peter Coyote – www.nomorevictims.org/?page_id=107 - On April 9, 2004 at 11:00 PM, during the First Siege of Fallujah, Abdul Hakeem & his family were asleep at home when mortar rounds fired by US forces rained down on their home, destroying one side of his face. His mother suffered abdominal & chest injuries & has undergone 5 major operations. His older brother & sister were injured and his unborn sister killed. US forces did not permit ambulances to transport civilian casualties to the hospital. In fact, they fired on ambulances, one of many violations of international law committed by US forces in the April assault. A neighbor volunteered to take the family to the hospital, where doctors assessed Hakeem’s chances of survival at five percent. They laid his limp body aside & treated other civilian casualties whose chances of survival appeared higher. Alaa’ Khalid Hamdan - Narrated by Peter Coyote - On May 5th, 2005, 2-year old Alaa’ Khalid Hamdan was severely injured when a U.S. tank round slammed into her family’s home in Al Qaim, Iraq. It was around three in the afternoon, and the children were having a tea party. Two of Alaa’s brothers and three of her cousins were killed, all children under ten years of age. Fourteen women and children were killed or injured in the attack, which occurred while the men were at work. Alaa’ was peppered with shrapnel in her legs, abdomen and chest, and urgently needed an operation to save her eyesight. Micro-shrapnel from the US tank round was embedded in both eyes, her retinas detached. If the fragments were not removed soon, she faced a lifetime of blindness. We received her medical reports in June of 2005. No medical services were provided by the US military for Alaa’ or her injured mother. Alaa’s impending blindness was of no consequence to occupation authorities. - www.nomorevictims.org/children-2/alaa-khalid-2

Agustin Aguayo: A Man of Conscience - A Short Film by Peter Dudar & Sally Marr - www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAFH6QGPxQk Iraq War Veteran Agustin Aguayo served his country for four years in the Army but was repeatedly denied Conscientious Objector status. His Press Conference never made the NEWS!

Jesus...A Soldier Without A Country - A Short Film by Peter Dudar & Sally Marr - www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYeNyJFJOf4 Fernando Suarez, whose only son Jesus was the first Marine from Mexico to be killed in the Iraq War, marches for Peace from Tijuana to San Francisco.

Vietnam: American Holocaust - Narrated by Martin Sheen – Written, Produced & Directed by Clay Claiborne – www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/vietnam-american-holocaust This film exposes one of the worst cases of sustained mass slaughter in history, carefully planned & executed by presidents of both parties. Our dedicated generals & foot soldiers, knowingly or unknowingly, killed nearly 5 million people, on an almost unimaginable scale, mostly using incendiary bombs. Vietnam has never left our national consciousness & now, in this time, it has more relevance than ever. www.vietnam.linuxbeach.net

Arsenal of Hypocrisy: The Space Program & The Military Industrial Complex - With Bruce Gagnon & Noam Chomsky - www.space4peace.org Today the Military Industrial Complex is marching towards world dominance through Space technology on behalf of global corporate interest. To understand how and why the space program will be used to fight all future wars on earth from space, it's important to understand how the public has been misled about the origins and true purpose of the Space Program. Arsenal of Hypocrisy features Bruce Gagnon: Coordinator: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Noam Chomsky and Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell talking about the dangers of moving the arms race into space. The one-hour production features archival footage, Pentagon documents, and clearly outlines the U.S. plan to "control and dominate" space and the Earth below. - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf7apNEASPk

Beyond Treason – Written & Narrated by Joyce Riley - Directed by William Lewis - 2005 - www.beyondtreason.com Is the United States knowingly using a dangerous battlefield weapon banned by the United Nations because of its long-term effects on the local inhabitants and the environment? Explore the illegal worldwide sale and use of one of the deadliest weapons ever invented. Beyond the disclosure of black-ops projects spanning the past 6 decades, Beyond Treason also addresses the complex subject of Gulf War Illness. It includes interviews with experts, both civilian and military, who say that the government is hiding the truth from the public and they can prove it. UNMASKING SECRET MILITARY PROJECTS: Chemical & Biological Exposures, Radioactive Poisoning, Mind Control Projects, Experimental Vaccines, Gulf War Illness & Depleted Uranium (DU). www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRG8nUDbVXU - www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViUtjA1ImQc

The Friendship Village - Directed & Produced by Michelle Mason - 2002- www.cultureunplugged.com/play/8438/The-Friendship-Village - www.cypress-park.m-bient.com/projects/distribution.htm A timely, inspiring film about our ability to transcend war, 'The Friendship Village' tells the story of George Mizo, a war hero-turned-peace activist after losing his entire platoon in an opening salvo of the 1968 Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. George's journey to heal the wounds of war leads him back to Vietnam where he befriends the Vietnamese General responsible for killing his entire platoon. Through their friendship, the seeds of the Vietnam Friendship Village Project are sewn: a reconciliation project near Hanoi that treats children with Agent Orange-related illnesses. One man could build a village; one village could change the world.

Life In Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos – By Anna Baltzer - www.youtube.com/watch?v=3emLCYB9j8c – www.vimeo.com/6977999 Life in Occupied Palestine provides an excellent introduction — in a down-to-earth, non-alienating way — to the occupation in Palestine and the nonviolent movement for freedom and equality in the Holy Land. The video of Baltzer’s award-winning presentation—including eyewitness photographs, original maps, facts, music, and action ideas. - www.annainthemiddleeast.com

Rachel Corrie: An American Conscience – 2005 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=IatIDytPeQ0 - www.rachelcorrie.org The late Rachel Corrie (1979 – 2003) was articulate, straight forward and resolute. Her castigation of Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian people and the Israeli Government’s disregard for the safety of Israelis and Palestinians rang with clarity. Through peace activism she ascertained the facts on the ground. She called it as she saw it. The documentary, “Rachel Corrie: An American Conscience,” chronicles her humanitarian work with the International Solidarity Movement in Rafah, Gaza Strip, just prior to her murder in March 2003. While Corrie stood in front of a Palestinian home to prevent its demolition, an Israeli soldier in a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer crushed her to death.

Fahrenheit 9-11 (2004 – 122 Minutes) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwLT_8S_Tuo - www.michaelmoore.com Michael Moore's view on what happened to the US after September 11 & how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan & Iraq.

ROMERO – Starring Raul Julie as Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador – Directed by John Duigan <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0241090/?ref_=tt_ov_dr> www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hAdhmosepI Romero is a compelling and deeply moving look at the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who made the ultimate sacrifice in a passionate stand against social injustice and oppression in his country. This film chronicles the transformation of Romero from an apolitical, complacent priest to a committed leader of the Salvadoran people. This man of God forced by the unspeakable events going on around him to take a stand-a stand that ultimately leads to his assassination in 1980 at the hands of the military junta. Archbishop Romero was murdered on March 24, 1980. He had spoken the disturbing truth. Many chose not to listen. As a result, between 1980 and 1989, more than 60,000 Salvadorans were killed. But the struggle for peace and freedom, justice and dignity goes on. - www.catholicvideo.com/detail.taf?_function=detail&a_product_id=34582&kywdlin kid=34&gclid=CJz8pMzor7wCFat7QgodUnMATA

The New Rulers of The World – Directed by John Pilger - www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfrL2DUtmXY - www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxgZZ8Br6cE - www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/new.html Who really rules the world now? Is it governments or a handful of huge companies? The Ford Motor Company alone is bigger than the economy of South Africa. Enormously rich men, like Bill Gates, have a wealth greater than all of Africa. Pilger goes behind the hype of the new global economy and reveals that the divisions between the rich and poor have never been greater — two thirds of the world’s children live in poverty — and the gulf is widening like never before. The film looks at the new rulers of the world — the great multinationals and the governments and institutions that back them — the IMF and the World Bank. Under IMF rules, millions of people throughout the world lose their jobs & livelihood. The reality behind much of modern shopping & the famous brands is a sweatshop economy, which is being duplicated in country after country: www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-new-rulers-of-the-world

South Of The Border – Directed by Oliver Stone - www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vBlV5TUI64 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvjIwVjJsXc - www.southoftheborderdoc.com There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’ t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region.

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election by Joan Sekler & Richard Perez – 2002 - www.unprecedented.org <http://www.unprecedented.org/> - www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOaoYnofgjQ Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is the riveting story about the battle for the Presidency in Florida and the undermining of democracy in America. From the moment the polls opened, it was painfully clear that something was wrong. While the media seized on the controversy surrounding the poorly designed "Butterfly Ballot", much larger civil rights abuses were overlooked. Focusing on events leading up to election day and the attempt to count legally cast votes in the days that followed, Unprecedented examines a suspicious pattern of irregularities, injustices and voter purges—all in a state governed by the winning candidate's brother. One of the first indications that something was wrong came early on election day. Thousands of African-Americans who had voted in previous elections discovered that their names were missing from the voter rolls. Investigators later uncovered irrefutable evidence that exposed an elaborate strategy where thousands of Democratic voters were purged from the rolls. These voters were disproportionately African-American.

Dollarocracy with Bob McChesney and Warisacrime with David Swanson Grace this exciting and powerful Solartopia Hour. We dissect how the rich came to rule America and how they love to take us to war- and how we can overthrow them and win a genuine, lasting peace.

Segment 1: Rejecting American Exceptionalism
In invoking American Exceptionalism as a reason we should intervene in Syria. President Obama is invoking the same principle that self empowers us remain "the greatest purveyors of violence on Earth today."

I've been working, on behalf of the producers, with peace groups around the country to spread the word about this film, and the feedback has been incredibly encouraging. I've led discussions at the conclusion of the film in DC and Norfolk and Charlottesville.

I'll be leading a Q&A following the 7:10 p.m. screening on Friday July 26 in Baltimore at the Charles Theater, 1711 North Charles Street, 410-727-FILM.

DirtyWars may be one of the best educational outreach opportunities the peace movement has had in a long time. The film is about secretive aspects of U.S. wars: imprisonment, torture, night raids, drone kills.

DirtyWars won the Cinematography Award for U.S. Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2013 and the Grand Jury Prize at the Boston Independent Film Festival. Variety calls it "jaw-dropping ... [with] the power to pry open government lockboxes." The Sundance jury said it is "one of the most stunning looking documentaries [we've] ever seen."

DirtyWarsmakes a powerful case that U.S. wars, aside from all of their known drawbacks, actually make the United States less safe. DirtyWars also makes real the humanity of our wars' victims. A great deal of activism has been generated by this film.

Please bring people to see the movie who have not been actively engaged in trying to end warmaking. The discussion afterwards will be open to questions and comments from any and all points of view.

Good Monday morning. Welcome to Connect the Dots. I’m your host Lila Garrett and, as always, I long to wake up on Memorial Day to find our country at peace with the world. Instead of mourning the young men and women who think they died fighting to protect their country, let us mourn the truth. Let us mourn the fact that most of the time our beautiful youth died to keep our permanent war economy alive. They died for what Eisenhower referred to as the military-industrial complex. They died for the power and profit of strangers. Had they thought of the expression “die for your country” as a public relations con job would they have risked their lives in such massive numbers? Of course not. But profiteers & presidents are so good at selling war…and most of us are so bad at knowing when we’re being manipulated, it hurts us to recognize that practically since its inception our country has been in a state of perpetual war. This is a cause not for celebration, but for shame.

You feel I’m being disrespectful of our fallen perhaps? I am not taking into consideration the sacrifice and “glory” of Memorial Day? You feel perhaps this should be a day of prayer and other religious rituals? Very well….How about this?

What if God actually was an old guy with a white beard, rather than an abstraction. And he stood on top a mountain holding out his arms and roared to the millions of armed service people below him, about to be shipped off to war. What would he say??? I don’t know about your God, but my god would cry out…..

“Stop! You think you’re going off to save democracy, to protect your country, to create freedom and equality? Know that you are fighting to maintain not your country but your country’s permanent war economy. Know that you are about to kill strangers and very possibly get killed yourselves for the power and profit of Lockhead Martin, Boeing, Northrup-Grummon. Are you ready to die for General Dynamics, Chevron, British Petroleum, and the drone makers? Are you willing to lose a leg or an arm or your mind for Raytheon, BAE and the Koch Brothers? Are you prepared to spend the rest of your life in a wheel chair for Bechtel SAIC, General Electric…and rest corporate America including the military.

Perhaps you don’t think in those terms. Perhaps you think you’re going to protect the helpless, feed the hungry? Know that what you are going to create is more helpless, and you will primarily feed the fat-cats that profit by these war.

You’re prepared to go to war to protect your country from attack you say? Know that your country is in less danger of attack from the outside than the outside that is from your country.

“But there are terrorist”, you say. They do have to be stopped. Yes they do and the first place to stop them is right here. At home. The most lethal terrorist technology ever invented is the drone. The instigator and the leader of Drone development is the United States. Drones that kill recklessly, randomly, turning everything and everyone in their path to rubble. Unmanned murderers capable of wiping out hundreds, thousands, potentially millions in a plane without a pilot that looks like a toy….or even a bug. Drones that create instant enemies for the US…..that cause not fewer terrorists around the world, but more. After all, what have potential victims of drones got to lose?. They see the collateral damage drones cause. They know there’s no place to hide. We’re going to get killed anyway, they think. It’s all done by remote control from some safe office building cozily tucked away in American towns by military people who play the drone like a video game. Fun for the sender; death for the unsuspecting receiver. Drones are an exciting new game for the Masters of War.

Insert: Keaton Simons sings Bob Dillons Masters of War.

What happens when sweet, well meaning young people equate patriotism with blindly obeying their country’s orders them to kill strangers? What happens when public relations campaigns convince young people that their slogans are real….“mess with the best, die like the rest,” the Marines tell us. “cocked lockedready to rock” they brag. They make you feel good when they call themselves…..the Marines. the few, .the proud. It makes you want to be one of them.

One the young people who confused that public relations slogan with the truth was Bradley Manning. When he was 18 he joined the Army to fight for his country in Iraq. What he discovered was the reality of war. Destabilization, confusion, the anonymity of the killers and their victims. Killing for its own sake, killing for kicks, the obsessive, compulsive need to kill that takes over what once were decent, sane young people.

One day Bradley Manning witnessed one of these mass killings for sport by American marines in Iraq. They wouldn’t stop. Horrified, Manning reported this to his superior officer. He was told to keep his mouth shut. He didn’t. He gave the video of the killings to Wikileaks so the world would know the truth about war. And now, 3 years later a military court is about to decide if he will pay for his honesty with his life. After 3 years of confinement and torture in military prison, he’s finally getting a trial, and that’s because a million protesting Americans refused to allow him to be hidden away any longer. Is justice possible for Bradley Manning? So far he has been refused the right to speak publicly about what he saw or what he has suffered. In other words he is not allowed to speak in his own defense. How’s that for honoring our first amendment?

Farah Almousani, Campaign organizer for the great organization Courage to Resist, was present at his last hearing. What is in store for this genuine hero for peace and sanity? What’s in store for the rest of us who believe in his cause?

(to listen to this interview and the other interviews with David Swanson and Tim Carpenter, follow the instructions below.)

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